Just when I was thinking I was getting too cold to enjoy any more singing, Hollis produced a thermos of hot chocolate, and I was glad to drink some. I felt so relaxed. No one was paying me any attention, and that was just fine. Hollis’s hand was warm and dry when he held mine, and the hot chocolate was good.

The singing drew to an end after a couple of hours, and people began to pack up their blankets and chairs. Children were carried to cars, their sleeping heads resting on parental shoulders. I gathered up the blanket and the thermos while Hollis toted the chairs. I was surprised to cross the path of Sybil Teague. She was doing exactly the same thing; the man in charge of her chairs was Paul Edwards.

It was a draw as to which one of us was the more astonished. “I didn’t know you were in town,” Sybil said. She looked a bit more expensive than anyone else in the crowd. So did Paul, for that matter.

“The sheriff doesn’t want us to go just yet,” I said. I thought Sybil had certainly known we were in town. I thought Sybil had to have heard about the incident this morning, especially since the boy who was the ringleader was such a follower of Mary Nell’s. I thought Sybil was just surprised to see me here on the courthouse lawn. Paul Edwards didn’t make any effort to charm or greet me, he just stood behind Sybil with their two chairs slung across his back.

“I don’t understand why,” Sybil said. “I’m sorry you’re being, ah, inconvenienced this way.” She looked at me as if she had no idea how to end the encounter, and I was petty enough to leave her in the lurch. “Why don’t you come to lunch with me tomorrow?” she suggested, I guess since she couldn’t think of anything else to say. “You and your brother. Noon okay? Do you know how to get to my house?”

“Thanks. I expect we can find it.” I gave her a very small smile and nod, and then Hollis and I moved on to his pickup.

Hollis made a choked noise, and I realized he was trying not to laugh out loud. “What’s up with you?” I asked, smiling a little myself.

“She couldn’t get out of that one,” he said.

“Nope. She feels obliged to the hired help.”

“You could have helped her out some,” he said, but not as if he were too worried about Sybil’s social dilemma.

“Nah. I figured she’d come up with an idea. And she did.”

We deposited our burdens in the bed of the pickup and climbed into the cab. Hollis put his hands on my waist and gave me an unnecessary but pleasant boost.

When we got to the motel, I asked him in.